Light emitting diodes (LEDs) often are used for backlighting sources in liquid crystal displays (LCDs), direct LED displays, and other displays. In LED display implementations, the LEDs are arranged in parallel “strings” driven by a shared output voltage, each LED string having a plurality of LEDs connected in series. During operation, conventional LED drivers typically continuously adjust the output voltage to compensate for changes in certain monitored characteristics of the LED system. This continual adjustment often is conducted in a manner such that any given change in the output voltage does not have a chance to settle in the LED system before the output voltage is changed yet again, thereby leading to instability in the LED system.